Duke football team needs time to regroup

DURHAM — Now with extra time to figure out what has gone wrong the past couple of games, David Cutcliffe said his team must return to its previous form.

Strange thing for a Duke football coach to say.

“We’ve got to become a better team again,” Cutcliffe said Sunday, trying to breakdown the Blue Devils’ second consecutive lopsided loss after becoming bowl eligible.

The 56-20 loss to visiting Clemson ruined what Cutcliffe said was a stellar atmosphere at the outset for a November home game.

Now it’s a week off before going to Georgia Tech for a Nov. 17 game. Even with consecutive losses, Duke (6-4 overall, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) will land squarely in the hunt for a spot in the ACC championship game as the Coastal Division representative if it wins its last two regular-season games.

“This is definitely part of the journey,” cornerback Ross Cockrell said. “So we need to show the young guys what we need to do on the bye week to continue to get better.”

Cutcliffe said he knows the Blue Devils haven’t dominated most of their opponents even in the victories. But he pointed to stretches in several games when the offense, defense and special teams all clicked during stretches.

“What we’ve done very well is put all three aspects together back-to-back-to-back,” he said. “That’s what we haven’t done for (the last) eight quarters.”

Granted, the losses came to nationally ranked opponents, first Florida State and then Clemson. The Tigers looked nearly unstoppable on Saturday night.

“I was concerned during the game,” Cutcliffe said. “You get a little shell-shocked.”

Duke was the only ACC team to play in each of the first 10 weeks of the season. Cutcliffe said the Blue Devils need the time off to heal physically. As it turns out, it might be a good time to try to rebuild confidence as well.